Mags
Mags, formerly Maggie Holt, is a teenage practitioner who became involved with the supernatural due to an event that led to Goblins destroying her previous home. She made a vow to bring forth three cases of "Blood and Darkness" to the leader of the goblins in exchange for leaving her and her fathers alive. She then moved to Jacob's Bell six months before the story began and started with the practice of using the very things that destroyed her home. Shortly before Blake Thorburn's contest with Conquest she got her identity stolen by Padraic. The Maggie Holt who fights alongside Blake is Padraic using Glamour. She named herself Mags 'and lost a great deal of connections after this event to remain in the world. Appearance Heavy eyebrows, dark brown hair that's cut short and pushed out of her face by a metal hairband, wearing a winter coat, alongside a checkered scarf. After changing her name, she wears a black T-shirt, a too small jacket, a denim skirt with long black tights, and sneakers. Her face looks worn out with dark circles under dark eyes, and she has numerous injuries. Personality Maggie describes herself as a power hungry fool, seeking power and knowledge that is hard to come by due to starting out with so little. This allowed her to be taken advantage of by Laird Behaim who tricked her into killing Molly Walker. While she seems apologetic about it, Maggie is noted at times to be violent, much like the Goblins she commands. Because of the incident that destroyed her town, Maggie is rarely fazed by the chaos she finds herself involved in. She's also fairly accepting of unusual circumstances, such as her father and his husband, Chris. She seeks to make things better and to do so she needs power, which has a drawback of sometimes interfering with her morals and leaving her open to manipulation. She seemed to have had a non-romantic fondness for Blake, and likens him to a stray dog with a lot of issues, but she enjoys his company and respects him for being ''fair ''with her. Molly's death affected her greatly, something she feels shame and guilt over to the point of losing sleeping and having nightmares about it. To this end she comes by everyday to keep Molly's ghost strong enough to remain in the world, out of some form of atonement. Her relationship with Padraic is complex in that she finds herself attracted to the freedom of attachment he presents and the subtle dangers, while not deluding herself about the monster he is. After taking on her new name, Mags, she vowed not to take the easy path and would forever tie herself to Jacob's Bell as a neutral party and wild card until she was no longer able to serve. She also took to taking care of the child vestiges that she ran across in Johannes' demesne, protecting their connections and asking Johannes to go easy on them. Chronology Histories In the past Maggie and her friend, Heather, were leaving school when someone left what first appeared to be a corpse but was instead eat and garbage with a dog trapped inside. She noticed a man standing out and took his picture. Things progressively get worse with house fires, assaults, and vandalism among other things. It comes to a point when Heather, Ben, and Jeremy, her friends, all heading to play videogames when she found the same man from before and took his photo again. This time he got out of the car and asked her to delete it, which she refused on account of him being suspicious, and he tells her to delete the photos and leave the town since it "is a dying place, and soon it will become a place of dying, of fire and violence and darkness.” She refused and he tried to take the phone, only for it to lead to him retreating when it seemed like things would get worse. Later on, while at Ben's home, she is attacked by two figures with knives who came after her for the phone. She jumps out of a one-story window to get to safety. By the time Thursday came around things were worse, no phones, sirens everywhere, fires, no police. Maggie felt helpless, unsure of what happened to her friends. When there was a safety meeting on Monday she once again encountered the man from before, alongside her parents, and warns her that things are about to get dangerous and that all the cars have been sabotaged, explaining without too many details that he was running damage control and those photos gave her a connection to him that put her in the firing line. When they tried to leave they found flies and animal blood all over the street and were surrounded by Goblins. The leader of the goblins stated she had a connection to him and he was spoiling her fun, using a bridge of bones to get across the threshold of the town, and moved to kill them until the stranger showed up and offered himself for them. He had warned as many people as he could on how to fight against their kind and gave them his luck and the majority of his power, so by giving himself up she will get and bathe in the rest of the power he possessed as she did other types of Others. The Goblin leader had the practitioner's arms and legs broken and would only release Maggie's father since he would feel it the most when they died. Maggie promised to do anything if the goblin would let her and both her fathers go, so the leader made her take an Oath to bring forth two more incidents of "blood and darkness and fire". Maggie and her fathers then left. At the end of the arc, two months before Blake's return, Laird Behaim offered her a chance to uphold the prophecy in a quiet and controlled manner that they both could benefit from; Laird told her that the only important thing was that the person who would instigate this was Molly Walker and she could leave everything else to him. Bonds Maggie first appears in Blake's dreams upon Molly Walker's death, when Blake became the new Thorburn heir. In the dream, Maggie was arguing with Laird Behaim. Damages Maggie later appears during the council meeting where she expressed an interest in the deal that was being offered by Blake Thorburn. She walked him halfway to his house and explained that they were new so she wanted to talk to them about a potential alliance since they were both near the bottom of the rung in terms of power. She then later came over to his home and was enthralled by all the knowledge they had amassed, working a deal for their cooperation until Laird Behaim appeared and revealed to Blake that she had killed his cousin on his orders. She tells him that she was a power-hungry fool and apologized, but the damage was done and the partnership terminated. Breach In this arc Blake comes to Maggie and asks to borrow her goblins, offering a chance of reconciliation. She gives him a few paper-sealed Goblins, as well as Dickswizzle. He later returns them to her. Signature The arc begins with a flashback to a point before Maggie left for Toronto, shortly after Blake had done so. She begins her day at St. Sabastian school by capturing a goblin named Buttsack when she runs into Lola Duchamp, who tells her to follow after her to the office. Maggie tries to be cordial, to a point, but Lola constantly reminds her of the fact that she murdered, and makes it clear that she sees Maggie as lower than the other practitioners. The argument peters out as they arrive and she makes it clear she wants a meeting with Maggie later on and promises protection for the duration. At the office they find Briar Girl, who the principal wants to see in his office since she hadn't been attending classes all semester. Maggie uses a Goblin Ear to listen in until Lola interferes. In class she received a D as she felt the stares of the Duchamps and Behaim students there, accusatory due to her murdering Molly. After class she meets with Lola and Briar Girl, as well as Penelope Duchamp, Joanna Duchamp, Chloe Duchamp, Lea Duchamp, Gavin Behaim, Craig Behaim, Owen Behaim, Patrick, Evonne, and Keller. The meeting is because they want her to stay uninvolved because she was on the verge of becoming a problem, with Gavin stating that vote of execution was supposed to be a warning because she sent Goblins after him after he tested her without her consent. Penelope states the meeting is because they will be the next generation of the council and they want to give her a bit more power in exchange for staying uninvolved with the upcoming wedding and the events in Toronto. But, more importantly, they want her to stay away from Blake. She doesn't consent, citing that she finds him interesting and at least upfront about how twisted things are with him and his circumstances, but states she'd think about it as Patrick offered to walk her home before shedding his Glamour and questioning her about how she sees him until she asks him to wait while she handles something in exchange for a favor. He agrees, with the favor being he would teach her some things. Maggie then visits the spot where she killed Molly and offers her blood, the token offering and the power enough to keep her Ghost tethered to the world. She then recounts her activities of the day to the ghost. A few days later Padriac offers to loan her his power, so long as she considers going to Toronto for the contest, and gives him one item from her bookbag. He took her name off a test paper and thus claimed her identity, stripping it away from her. When she pursued him to the train and bus station, she found he had set all the goblins she had captured free, and gave them articles of clothing, the only condition being that they couldn't hurt her until she stopped reading the note. When she fled from the goblins, Buttsack included, she bumped into Sandra Duchamp who warded them away and offered her sanctuary for the night. When morning came Sandra offered her more advice and showed her how to check her ties to the world before giving her a weapon to defend herself. Sandra informs her that without more solid connections to tether her to the world, the connections she still possesses will slowly degrade as Padraic takes over them, and she will "fall through the cracks". Maggie then set off to see Crone Mara, only to find a little girl in her place. While inside her home she was tested by the little girl, who was then revealed to be Mara, who would have killed her if she failed. Mara refused to make a deal with Maggie, and in fact stated that she absolutely "never" would. She then visits Eva and Andy's home, where she is confronted by an armed Eva until her brother arrives. She asks for weapons so she can defend herself and Andy consents so that she doesn't hold any offense against Eva for attacking her with a crossbow. Maggie then heads to Johannes' territory, ambused by Buttsack again, only for her to incapacitate him using the weapons gifted to her, before dragging him off into Johannes' demesne. Inside, she forces Buttsack to swear an oath to serve her for a year, binding him to her, before meeting some kids inside of a middle school. She discovers that they're just vestiges and explains it to them, before Johannes shows up and offers to help her condition if she was willing to assist him in taking Jacob's Bell. He then gave her a day to decide, and a phone to call her mother. She then visits Molly's ghost once more, before coming to the decision to claim a demesne, and returning to Johannes to get some equipment. The two then get into a discussion about power and discuss how Johannes came about his, as well as how she lost her ability to swear, for knowledge of how to seal away superior goblins. However, this goblin used her words to actually inflict damage as well. While she refused to become his ally at the time, she did agree to remain cordial before Faysal transported her out and she caught a glimpse of his true form. In McEwan Park she then bombed the shack several goblins were inhabiting using a device Andy had given her, and used the Goblin Blood to make a circle with chains and chalk to perform a modified demesne ritual to claim a new identity. She remained in the circle for some time, awaiting challengers. Sandra Duchamp, Johannes Lillegard, Padraic (who expressed renewed interest in her), Crone Mara (who saw this as a means of making her suffer), and Rose Thorburn Junior claimed 'no contest', finishing the ritual. Upon the ritual ending, Maggic then asked Rose where Blake Thorburn was, revealing that she was unaffected by the Abstract Demon Ur erasing his connections. Null She later appeared in the council meeting where they were determining who would participate as a competitor for the position of Lord, with her remaining neutral, and then delivering the declarations of war to Tyler, Alexis, and Tiffany from the others in her capacity as an ambassador. Mala Fide & Gathered Pages (10) At the summoning of a Revenant, Mags approached Blake, who is now an Other. She explains to Blake that the others knew this was coming, a challenge for Lordship, and that she tried to down play her role as a wildcard because it would upset the balance and make things worse. Since then she's acted on her duties as Ambassador and is waiting until everything is over before she tries to reclaim everything she lost and get revenge on Padraic. While she can't act or issue deals with the others, she also sees Rose as an even bigger threat because the hair she used in binding Conquest is acting as the source of taint seeping into her continuously. She does state she's happy to have him back as a friend, even though she wasn't sure that she could honor his request to see if she could summon Green Eyes and takes him to where the ghost of Molly Walker is. When Blake greets the ghost, it responds back to their surprise. Mags has to take Blake away from the site because she felt she had to bring him for what amounted to a grave visit, but if Molly gave him some sort of advantage them her role as ''Ambassador could be called into question and if one person challenged her on it she could lose it and fall into Limbo. However, Molly follows them from her grave and she has to leave Blake in the mirror along with her goblins to watch them while she goes to get salt to create a circle to bind Molly into place. When she returns Blake tells her that Molly left for the Hillglades House and runs to catch up before Blake is attacked in the mirrors and she summons Faysal to deal with the situation as she recognized them as some of Johannes' guests. While Blake handles negotiating with the familiar she catches up to the scene at the Hillglades House. Once that ends and Blake returns, he says he'll help with the binding and then leave her to go visit Johannes. She comes up with a plan to use a rope soaked into salt water to bind her, but notices she's being called and can't waste time. Molly doesn't want to be trapped, which she apologizes for, but Blake's questioning presses her and makes her aggressive at the mention of their grandmother. She then flickered out and returned to her haunt, with Mags arriving to see Callan Walker and Irene Walker there at her grave alongside Molly's ghost, though they were unaware. She takes responsibility to prevent anything from happening by trying to talk with them, but her answers are vague and both are being spurred on by Molly's aggression bleeding into them, leading to aggression until she leaves. Molly waits until the two are gone before going over to Mags, where she confronts her on her death and demands her body. Blake tries to calm her down, but Molly states it's between them and picks up a branch to draw a rune that created a wind that nearly banished Blake. When Mags reconnects with him, they figure she's drawing power from her because of the connection and that Molly was shoring up on power to make her suffer as well. Mags traces the wraith using the same method Sandra taught her while Blake left to see Faysal and both found her around a gathering of the rest of the Thorburn Family. Maggie picked a fight with Ellie Thorburn to get close enough to banish her, before paying the owner for the disturbance and then leaving to the Hillglades House. There she confronted Molly and offered to make her a familiar in penitence. She and Molly got to discuss things away from the house, at the lakeside, when Blake returns to tell her that Sandra knows about Molly and is now her enemy if she finishes the ritual, which Mags doesn't like but accepted it as responsibility for making amends. She tells Blake to go help his friends since he's feeding Molly with his negativity at the moment, when they felt the start of the attack on the Hillglades House by Jeremy Meath and Blake goes to stop him. Mags goes to the church with Molly to find Johannes, Duncan, and Sandra there with Eva and Andy. They want an explanation for Molly, since it could be contrived as her siding with Rose, but she tells them that she has no love for Rose. Molly the demands a child from every group and a meaningful sacrifice from Johannes for their part in her death. When they refuse and Eva attacks Molly, nearly catching Mags in the process, she departs to get revenge (although she won't pursue Mags) and Andy helps Mags onto her feet and she feels the negativity coming from the ringing of the bell. Malfeasance Mags greets Blake and Evan when they arrive at the Junior Council meeting outside the school, but has to leave once Blake challenges Alister Behaim since she can't interfere. it's been revealed that the council aren't happy due to Molly and are using her to track the wraith down. When Blake later asks for Briar Girl to assemble the rest of the junior council she appears to remain a witness and Blake realizes she had gotten in trouble, at least on a level, even if she’d held onto her position and the threats had been grave enough that she was now forcing herself to be impartial and giving herself a witness and alibi. Judgement She later appears with Sandra, scanning everyone who entered the sanctuary with her Sight, which allowed her to see that Blake was inside of Rose. Once everyone was there, she spoke to begin the meeting, carrying out her role as the ambassador. During the meeting, she cleared the correction that it was Padriac who they met in Toronto before agreeing to keep the goblins from screwing things up further while dealing with the lawyer threat and then joining with Rose in order to get rid of Barbatorem, who was wearing Johannes' body. Inside the demesne she led them to the child vestiges that she had been protecting, coming to ask them for help. They were reluctant, due to the other practitioners allowing what went on in the demesne to go unhindered, until Rose made a deal with them and Green Eyes gave her a vouch. They then fled from the lawyer and hellhound pursuing them. During the final battle, she had her goblins aid in helping Rose to take hold over the demesne as it sinks into the Abyss, although she had to bribe Buttsack with a thumb-drive of porn to keep him helping, and stopped Mrs. Lewis from summoning Ornias by putting her pipe shotgun in its mouth. She leaves after the battle is over, citing this as the second of her three rounds of blood and darkness. Poke Appears in ch. 3 of Poke, meeting with the main characters of the short in order to learn more about the Goblin Queen who destroyed her hometown. This reveals that Buttsack is still working for her, and that she has some knowledge of the heredity of some of the subhuman/incest-practitioner community. Here, the Goblin Queen - well, Redcap Queen- is revealed as Gerhild (originally Gabrielle). “Gerhild. Redcap Queen,” Deedee said. “Hit your town, wiped it off the map. Hit Port Hope, they had to rewrite memories and call it a contamination issue. Hit three other places, a bit more backwater. Small towns and shit. Used to be a goblin queen, just like you, but she stopped being so human and started being more goblin a bit ago. Enjoys being both practitioner and goblin at the same time. Benefits of both, not so many weaknesses. She isn’t bothered by the usual stuff that slows goblins down, and she lets goblins who follow her avoid some of that usual stuff too. Power lines, plumbing.” ''“That’s the one,” Mags said, quiet. “That’s all information I already had.” '' “Yeh. So here’s what’s what. Bitch’s original name is Gabrielle. From the asshole of Detroit, so poor you’d have more chance finding cash stuck to the shit on a hobo’s bootheel than going through her family’s wallets, y’know?” “Somehow it’s hard to feel sorry for her,” Mags said. '' “She grew up hard, not in the fun way, but in the other way that matters. No friends, no help, no nothing, pretty much. Her ma’s struggling just like she is, but her ma can at least fuck some shitbag to not be totally alone… and the family’s poor and depressing enough the only shitbags who’ll stick around are the kind who give little Gabrielle the worst time, y’know?” Deedee said. “Goblins can go after people if they’re sure they can clean up the evidence, or leave it messy enough people can’t make heads or tails of it. They went after her. Pair of the little ones, like our nameless twist here. She out-scrapped ‘em, and she wasn’t even old enough to have tits yet. Walked away a little more wide-eyed, aware there are things in this world that ain’t right.” '' “Innocent but aware?” Mags asked. “Sure, if you can call a girl with her history innocent. So goblins in charge of the little shitters have to clean up the mess, or there’s gonna be some fuckin’ issues, yeah? They go after her.” ''“I’m guessing she wins,” Mags said. '' “She doesn’t know a thing about Goblins, but the boss goblin that comes after her is tenacious, like a dog with a bone, except the bone’s her femur or something. Metaphors! But she’s a tenacious little shit too. Scrap lasts a while, I hear, but it drags out long enough she manages to get the goblin boss in a compromising spot. Surrounded by elemental metal by accident. But she can’t go and it can’t escape, so she’s there, while it talks at her, tries to break her with words. But she’s been called all sorts of things and told all sorts of things, and she toughs it out. Loses a bit more innocence, until she’s running into the negative, you get me? Into innocence’s shitter.” “And?” Mags asked. '' “And eventually she lets the boss goblin go, and the boss goblin goes to its boss, and she follows it. And the goblin in charge of that part of Detroit… hooo.” '' “Don’t tell me she somehow beat that goblin too.” ''“Don’t know,” Deedee said. “Just telling you what I pieced together for ya. But ten years later she’s a goblin queen, with a small herd of redcaps, and she’s got three of the big ones with her. And from there, she does her thing. By the time she gets to your town, she’s a redcap queen, and she’s that half-and-half that’s more than the sum of its parts. Thing is the big goblins tend to stay out of the attacks on the towns. They guard the perimeters, and they’re the ones you gotta get past if you want to get at her. I hear she gives them some prize for keeping trouble off her back while she and her swarm have fun.” '' “Define ‘big’ for me,” Mags said. “What tier of goblin?” “I have no idea what the fuck a tier is supposed to mean here,” Deedee said. Art Basics *Maggie's Implement was an Athame, a ritual dagger used during ceremonies. It's unknown if Mags has any implements but did use an anthame later. *Mags' has no Demesnes. *Mags considering taking the Wraith of Molly Walker as a familiar, but ultimately did not. Goblin Queen Mags is a Practitioner who commands Goblins, making her a Goblin Queen. She understands their mindset and how best to control them, as well as how to trap and utilize them. She's had Gremlins under her command as well. Magic Mags is stated to know a few tricks belonging to both Goblins and Faeries, as well as things learned from other practitioners, including: *'''Sealing: While she lacks any known proficiency in other things, Mags has some knowledge of sealing. She seals goblins in seals of paper or an object like a whistle. *'Tracking:' Sandra Duchamp taught her how to track connections via a bubble map. Tools * Pipe Shotgun * Stiletto * Pipe Bomb Trivia *In Worm, Wildbow's first web serial, the Maggie Holt series are mentioned twice in passing (9.5 and 15.x). **There Maggie is the star of an enduringly popular book series that began publishing in the 1980s and received movie adaptations. *Maggie is the only character besides the main protagonist to have an arc exclusively to herself. *The stranger she met in her Histories arc was apparently the brother to Fell. Category:Characters Category:Practitioners